Korean Combat Pilot

Ken French , mission designer from Just Flight informed me:

The virtual cockpits in KCP are pretty basic.

Don't expect to be able to read the instruments because they use a static bitmap of the instrument panel rather than readable instruments. They do scroll very quickly which means you can use them in dogfights although you'll have to do without the aiming reticle.

There were two circumstances where I found the VCP's most useful:

Overview:

During a dogfight with one USN and five USAF pilots A MiG-15 shot down an F-86 for the first time. On Jan. 21 1951 large numbers of MiG-15s attacked USAF jets, shooting down one F-80. On October 21 through 30 the enemy flew sorties over North Korea daily for the first time in the war. MiGs appeared in numbers over 100, consistently outnumbering their F-86 counterparts and downing three F-86s at a cost of five MiGs lost to Sabres.

Enemy F-86's and F-80's have been spotted over the Yellow Sea. Intercept and destroy.

No warp available so it was a 60 mile flight to the first waypoint. All my wingmen crashed enroute.

At waypoint 1 I had close encounters with - not F-80's or F-86's - but 4 F-51's! So much for intel. (This may be realistic!)

My only chance was to keep my energy and speed up and avoid at all costs getting drawn into a turning battle with the Mustangs. I did get a few hits in. Really I should have taken one pass and bugged out. Twice I hung around for + 10 minutes of maneouvering and twice I bit the dust.

Overview:

By September 1st, 1951, the Communist Air Force's order of battle included 525 MiG-15s, and the Reds judged that the time was ripe to launch their new air offensive. The MiGs began to appear in greater numbers than ever before, as many as 90 crossing the Yalu at one time. They were also better led, better organized and displayed superior tactics--clear evidence that the ‘honchos', as the Soviet and Soviet-satellite pilots were nicknamed, were in full control.

Take off from Pyongyang airfield and intercept all enemy aircraft.

The clouds are excellent - varied types and density - it's a shame they weren't used in more of the missions.

As usual my wingmen crashed enroute to waypoint 1, where I was jumped by four F-86 Sabre jets.

Not a fair fight - but that's OK. I managed to clip one and after a few minutes the ground took care of the rest!

On to waypoint 2 and I encountered some F-80's. Miraculously some MiGs turned up but they didn't last long - flying gracefully into terra firma. I joined them a few moments later - but at least I put up a fight!

Overview

It is now known that Russian and Chinese pilots assisted the North Korean government in their efforts to drive back the United Nations troops. North Koreans captured Seoul, forcing the South Korean government to move to Taejon. Enemy forces also occupied nearby Kimpo airfield and, on the east coast, Mukho naval base below Kangnung. North Korean Yaks strafed Seoul airfield, destroying one B-29.

Today you will be performing double duty. First take out all AA at the Seoul airfield. Then drop any enemy aircraft left in the area.

Intelligence

None

My notes : I couldn't take out the AAA despite my (usual) use of unlimited weapons". Air targets? I did see a couple of aircraft getting airborne but they either crashed or my wingmen took them out.

After several re-tries I settled for taking a few strafing runs - see my hardware notes - and then motoring away to the North until I could "warp" back to Pyonyang with the "X" key.

The waypoints are very basic. After take-off the next waypoint is 100 miles away - at the target! Motoring 100 miles in a straight line doesn't really rock my boat so I warped to the action.

On coming home the you warp to about 3 miles from the threshold which makes for a bit of a scramble to get the flaps and gear down and settle in for landing.

Overview

Alexandr Pavlovich Smortzkow, a Russian Ace, is credited with 12 kills during the Korean War.

One night we intercepted the B-29 Superfortress. I was listening on my radio...Group of B-29s in front of you! I dove my MiG-15 with my heart pounding. Soon I saw the B-29s with many protecting fighters. I attacked and destroyed two B-29's and one of the escorting Sabres. That night our regiment destroyed five B-29s.

I was chuffed to get a ride in the Chinese MiG... gotta love that camouflage scheme! Takeoff time was 1830 hrs, so everything looked a little darke than usual. I think this was the first night mission I'd flown in Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2- and the combination of sunset light with the Korean landscape was fabulous to behold.

First waypoint was only 50 miles so I decided to fly there and admire the view. I approached wp 1 at about 8,000 feet having just completed a couple of vertical loops. On turning to waypoint 2 enemy the waypoint indicator disappeared. This usually means there are bogeys in the area. But where were they?

Light was fading fast so I turned on "aircraft labels" and .. aha... there they were - 2 o'clock high.

Easing into a 200 knot climb I slowly, grindingly made my way up to about a dozen B-39 Superfortresses. Naturally I was going in one direction and they in the opposite direction! I reached their altitude - about 20,000 feet - just in time to see them go sailing by and sending a hail of bullets at my tail.

I eased into a slow turn and started chasing. Well they were scooting along I can tell you! I had to repeatedly dive to build up speed, then climb, lob a few futile shots, stall and start the process again. To add insult to injury now and then a B-29 would circle around and scream past me.

OK - this was futile. There was a hint in the briefing - "I dove my MiG..". B-29's generally come in at high altitude so an interceptor will want to be higher again.

On my second attempt at the mission I spent the first 50 miles climbing at 200 knots and eventually reaching 20,000 feet. I was there but the MiG wasn't really happy about. Mmmm... pu to the preferences menu and deselect "unlimited fuel" - now to get rid of those drop tanks.

Mmmm..... I couldn't drop them. I tried Shift-D, Ctr;-D and even assigned my own command "Shift-J" which should have jettisoned all the tanks. No joy. OK - let's just say I had "hung tanks". Switching my attention back to the B-29's I executed a masterful turn onto their six - not pulling too hard as I wanted to keep my speed up - lined up on a B-29 - bored in for the attack and ... WHAMMO!

Mid-air collision.

On my third attempt I got to altitude OK - avoided an early collision - and eventually ran out of steam.

On my fourth attempt I decided to go for the low flying - escorts? - I had glimpsed earlier. That is to say I had glimpsed their labels. SO i bored in to the rendezvous at 5,000 feet - quite content this time to let the B-29's pound my homeland. I just wanted to mix it up and have a dogfight with someone... anyone! Now you have to remember that it was getting dark - twilight with long long shadows. So this time I spotted the labels of the low escorts at about 5,000 feet range and steered towards them.

But where were they? Darned low that's for sure... heck they must be amongst the tree tops!!! Lower ... lower .... at about 1,000 feet range I got a visual... 4 Sabre jets in V-formation.

By this time our closure rate was I guess... 300 plus 300 equals 600 knots. Now at 600 knots you will cover 1,000 feet in... ummm.... not very long!

So, yes, you guessed it... I had a head on collision, or should I say we had a head on collision.

I wasn't too discouraged by though as at least I'd found some action!

Attempt number 5 had me determined to mix it up with those Sabres. No mid-airs this time no sirreee! I had a plan.

I would fly low and they'd be silhouetted against the fading light. So I bored in at about 500 feet. There they were... he he he ... I reefed the MiG into a climbing turn and swung into the nearest Sabre... ... ...

... ... and watched in dismay as they flew, one by one, into the ground... !

Man oh man! So there I was at 2,000 feet with 4 ex-Sabres and a gaggle of B-29's about 4 miles above. Damn the B-29's, I was going home.

I turned North East and after a few minutes picked up another waypoint - pretty close too - about 12 miles. Next thing I picked up two bogeys.. F-51 Mustangs! They didn't seem suicidal - on the contrary they swung into the attack and the fight was on. This was more like it! Turn and burn - yank and bank - I'm lining up for a shot and thud thud thud thud... Mustang no.2 has got me.

The controls went limp and I was so stunned I don't even think to bail out.

Not to worry - I'd be back another day for those Mustangs.

Overview

US and British carriers have been spotted in the Yellow Sea. USS Essex is moving east with a task fleet. Intercept the fleet and do your best. Select one ship and hammer it!!!!! Intelligence reports fleet has extensive air coverage. Watch your six.

Intelligence

None

Takeoff was in the rain and with a setting sun, the MiG looked magical in the slanted light. I waited around for my wingmen but as usual their takeoff was delayed. The first waypoint was 80 miles off. I tried warping with X" six times to no avail. Okey dokey - not to worry. "Let's climb above the weather", I thought.

Overview

Early on 1st November the 7th Marines entrucked at its Hamhung assembly area and, together with its attached artillery, the 2d Battalion and 11th Marines, it moved north 26 road miles to defensive positions behind the ROK 26th Regiment. US troops and vehicles are on the move. Take them out. Watch for enemy aircraft.

Background

N/A

Intelligence

N/A

The mission starts off on a "blue-sky" day. Beautiful weather. Ideal for appreciating the complex rolling scenery created by the Blue Arrow team.

The first waypoint was 76.9 miles away. Once again "warping" didn't work and once again the wingmen failed to accompany me. The map display - see image at right - shows where the wingman crashed.

I dutifully past waypoint and turned North to waypoint 2. After a few minutes of of flying at 3,000 feet and getting no sight of the convoy I had a peek at the map. As it turned out I had just flown past the convoy location. Interesting - I had the target view set to "ground" yet the vehicles didn't show up.

Guided by the map display I circled to the right and tried to get a visual on these elusive vehicles. As you can see I circled almost 360 degrees around the spot before catching sight of them. The crucial factor was that I had to be flying below 1500 feet to get visual contact.

I guess part of the challenge in this mission is to actually find the convoy! Anyway after expending all my rockets and most of the cannon shells - and copping a few hits to the wing structure I decided to head home. The briefing had mentioned enemy aircraft and the next waypoint was placed over a lake 30 miles west of Pyongyang. Sure enough, as I reached the lake I spotted two dots coming towards me...

Ground targets as seen from 1800 feet altitude. Barely visible - you need to fly at 1500 feet or less to have a chance of sighting vehicles on this terrain.

Hooray! Mission 4 and at last I get to dogfight with .... yes.. they were indeed Sabre Jets!

Determined not to miss this opportunity I swung onto the six of the traiing Sabre and scored a few hits.

Breaking off and keeping my energy up I repositioned for a second run.

What were my targets doing?

They were flying straight and steady - low and level - across the lake and I watched stunned and dismayed as they flew sedately into the water !!!

Very frustrating indeed. I was going to be flat out making Ace at this rate.

Overview

The HMS Jamaica and USS Rochester were at anchor in the approaches to Inchon. All appeared to have gone well ashore, but nevertheless, in accordance with usual Royal Navy practice, the ship went to dawn action stations as the first signs of light appeared on the horizon. From long experience over war years, this was the time of maximum threat from attack. Just as it got light, over the tannoy system came the report, "Alarm - aircraft Starboard". An aircraft was sighted. We heard the thump of two explosions. Again the broadcast - "aircraft turning towards". Immediately those guns sighted were trained on the approaching aircraft. The Captain ordered the guns not to fire but to track the target as it closed the ship. When, the insignia on its fuselage was close enough to read, the order came - "Fire". JAMAICA shook from stem to stern as every gun free to engage fired and the unfortunate pilot together with his aircraft disintegrated in a flash and disappeared into the water. "

Background

Just after daylight, at 0550, two enemy YAK planes made bombing runs on the Rochester lying in Inch'on harbor. The first drop of four 100-pound bombs missed astern, except for one which ricocheted off the airplane crane without exploding. The second drop missed close to the port bow, causing minor damage to electrical equipment. One of the YAK's strafed the H.M.S. Jamaica, which shot down the plane but suffered three casualties.

Intelligence

The USS Rochester and HMS Jamaica are heavily armed. Your best chance of success is to take out the smaller targets.

Overview

Take off from Pyongyang airfield and head north east towards the Yalu Alley. Intercept all bombers and fighters and destroy them.

Background

N/A

Intelligence

N/A

Takeoff was uneventful and I circled the field a few times hoping my wingmen would join me for the 100 mile run to the taget area. No such luck, so I headed off alone again. About 50 miles out I reached the coast and had a bit of time to appreciate the wonderful coastline - with lots of small islands and varied colouring in the water. It's a shame the missions hadn't used the terrain features as visual navigation references - such a waste!

Any-whoo I knew when the target area was near because the frame rate took it's usual dive from 40 to 50 frames per second down to 3 - 10 frames per second. The second image shows some of the object density which caused the hit.

A huge furball looked like shaping up with 8 MiGs - my wingmen turned up! - a group of B-29's and F-80's. The Flak was the densest I have ever seen in a sim. And undiscriminating - though to be fair - this is pretty realistic. In the bottom image you see me scooting along at 100 feet altitude and the Flak is exploding below me! Man those guys must have depressed their barrels below the horizontal!

Well as you might expect - nobody who flew through that Flak survived. I survived because I flew around it! One B-29 survived and at least I had the pleasure of knocking him down.

Overview

US Marines invaded Wolmi-do in Inchon Harbor at dawn, occupying the island in less than an hour. The main US Army X Corps landings at Inchon occurred at high tide, in the afternoon, after a 45-minute naval and air bombardment. USN and US Marine Corps aircraft from carriers provided air cover during the amphibious assault.

Background

US landing craft have been spotted heading inland at Inchon beach. Take them out.

Intelligence

N/A

Overview

As part of Operation Roundup, designed to disrupt enemy preparations for a new offensive, X Corps advanced with strong air support near Hoengsong, northeast of Wonju. Maj. Arnold Mullins, 67th FBS, in an F-51 Mustang, shot down a Yak-9 seven miles north of Pyongyang to score the only USAF aerial victory of the month.

Background

F-51 have been spotted north of Pyongyang airfield. Scramble and intercept.

Intelligence

N/A

Well I guess they sent down Maj. Arnold Mullins, because this guy is an Ace, whoever he is!

I tried this mission in the Yak-9 and in the MiG-15. 6 times in all. I managed to down the first Mustang twice... then the second one turned up and quickly ended my euphoria.

This is a tough mission - I'd look on it as a "dogfight skill trainer". The Yak-9 seems under powered compared to the F-51 and the MiG can't turn with it.